It is not that

I avoid mixing

with the world;

but I do better

Playing alone. ~Ryoken (Trans: K Tanahashi, Sky Above, Great Wind)

The memory of that moment … the question … the room suddenly dark … a cloud bank covering the sun …

“Why do you ask questions when you know I will lie?”

Were my questions searching for grain of truth that would return my bliss of ignorance?” Yet, how can that be? As I in those moments was like Humpty Dumpty who will never ever be put back together again?

The question, “why ask when you know I will lie” was a darker betrayal to layers of betrayals.

Yet, today I ask, many years later, “Why do others … reporters, bankers, leaders, public officials, the betrayed ask questions when they know the response will be a lie?”

Why do they listen to the lies … film the lies … and then, over and over again share the lies obsessively to justify, rationalize, deny, or sardonically illustrate the untruths?

Yet, a greater question that is increasingly significant to me, “Why am I siting here listening to this public cycle of questions, lies, and rationalizations?”

Could it be that there is an American trauma of loss created by lies that repeatedly search for healing through the media?

Am I driven to search for truths motivated with an unspoken hope that has the power of a mustard seed to build mountains that see beyond the lies and distractions to a democracy is not broken … forever and ever? Or is democracy also like Humpty Dumpty … never ever put back together again?

Yet, to be honest, I must admit … blushingly … I did enjoy the snarky in Jimmy Kimmel Live, Trump Attacks the Pope, Thinks He’s Jesus & Bashes Springsteen in HIs Most Bananas Posing Spree Yet.

I fear any respect for the Presidency of the United States will never ever be put back together again as it is cracked beyond cracked.